tell me about consolidating student loans

[meg-momto2]

DH has about $18,300 in student loans. they're all through the same bank with two being unsubsidized stafford loans and three being subsidized stafford loans. we have had them deferred on and off for the last 4 years. he hasn't checked to see if they can still be deferred. on paper our budget allows enough to make the minimum payment but in reality i have to scramble to get enough money to cover them. we also have a lot of consumer debt and a car payment that takes priority(high interest rate) over the student loans. we'd love to lock the loans in at lower interest rate and smaller monthly payment.

i'm looking into consolidation but i'm not really sure what i'm reading. is there things i should stay away from? should i avoided the bank the loan is through? anything you can tell me about the do's and don'ts would be much appreciated.

[daytripper75]

I consolidated through the federal government, it was easy to do but I wish I had known that I could only do it once! I might have waited to try to lock in a lower interest rate.
It was almost a non-event for me. I wanted to do it, the school I was graduating from gave me the paperwork to sign and mail.
Sorry I don't have more information for you!

[crunchy_mommy]

They are all federal loans? I would go here: https://www.dl.ed.gov/ Your DH should be able to log in & view all the info about each loan and there are also links to consolidate it through the federal gov't. Other companies will likely charge you consolidation fees etc., they are in it to make $$ (unless they're non-profit maybe). On that same site you can also change your repayment plan (without consolidating), which can lower your monthly payments.